| Monday, December 16, 2019 Born on this day
| 1770 - | The great composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, is born. [more] | Australian Explorers
| 1824 - | Hume and Hovell mistakenly arrive at Corio Bay, instead of Westernport Bay. [more] | 1845 - | Thomas Mitchell departs Orange, New South Wales, in search of a great river flowing to the Gulf of Carpentaria. [more] | 1860 - | Burke makes the fateful decision to push on to the Gulf from Cooper Creek, despite waterless country and searing summer heat. [more] | World History
| 1631 - | Mount Vesuvius erupts, destroying six villages and killing up to 4,000 people. [more] | 1997 - | 700 people, mostly children, are hospitalised following the broadcast of a cartoon which triggers 'Nintendo epilepsy'. [more] | | |